Poisoner

by Stephen Bates

In 1856 Dr William Palmer was convicted of poisoning his best friend with strychnine and was suspected of committing at least a dozen other murders. One of the last people to be publicly hanged in Britain, he was described by Charles Dickens as ‘the greatest villain who ever stood trial at the Old Baileyâ€. But in this fresh examination of the evidence, journalist Stephen Bates considers Palmerâ€s motivation and asks whether he really was a prolific and ruthless serial killer.

352 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1709

About the author

Stephen Bates has worked as a journalist for the BBC, the Telegraph, the Mail and, for 23 years, as political correspondent at the Guardian. He is the bestselling author of Church at War and God's Own Country.

Penny Loaves and Butter Cheap, Stephen Bate's kaleidoscopic picture of Britain in 1846 is in all good bookshops and available in ebook now.

Reviews

[Becki D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book & finished it quickly. The story of a desperate gambling addict who happened to be a former Doctor and current horse racer, who lied, stole, committed multiple frauds and murders in Victoria, England. The book is very thorough in examining the events of the crimes committed by William Palmer and the symptoms the victims suffered, whether the deaths could be natural or murder. I appreciated the thorough research that went into each part of the story including examing the case from morden POV.

Who did Palmer murder, and who didn't he murder?

I believe Palmer did kill his brother Walter in 1855 , only instead of poison, he used the unlimited alcohol he provided. Probably it was easier to hand your brother the weapon and let him kill himself than it was to outright murder him with poison as he did others.

At the rate of insurance scams Palmer was pulling, I find it unlikely he murdered his infant children without insuring them first. It seems by 1854, Palmer was heavily in debt and desperate, and he had the idea of insurance and murder by the time of his last child's death, it seems.

He almost certainly murdered his mother-in-law, Mary Thornton, in 1849, Leonard Bladen in 1850, John Parsons Cook, his wife Annie Brooks, insured for $ 13,000, and died in 1854. George Bates was lucky the insurance scheme failed, or he could have been killed. It is possible that Bladen died of natural causes, and the death gave Palmer the idea to kill them and steal & charge debts on the victim. An idea he used years later with Cook, as he became so desperate. The first potential victim, George Abley, died in 1846, and it's entirely possible to either from murder or natural causes. It could have been a test murder to see if he could get away with it on a stranger. But that seems unlikely to me. That's the problem in these cases; any death near the offender is linked to them, and you never know.

The question is why Pamler didn't attempt to murder Eliza Tharme, who was blackmailing him in 1855 and had a child? Why not kill her baby as an unwanted burden? Perhaps it was simply a matter of timing with the murder & trial for Cook's murder causing too much heat?

Palmer was hardly a criminal mastermind. I think he was a desperate addict who was spoiled & treated women badly. Clearly, he wasn't used to facing consequences for his actions in his life. He lied, stole, foraged, and murdered so he could keep gambling. I don't think he had any goals in life other than to keep gambling and would do whatever to whomever to get the money to do so.